This is one of those situations where "It will probably be fine, hes a professional and there shouldn''t be protests" But it really begs the question of just, why? Theres like 30 referees at the world cup, what is the point of making this decision when it could just be easily avoided
Imagine if whining about refs would disqualify those refs from ever refereeing in your games. Teams would get to pick and choose refs. If a player or coach is unprofessional, they have to face the consequences.
@@DrZaius3141 You're absolutely right, complaining shouldn't affect the decision, but there's no reason to create this situation at all. It's no different to nationality, even if a referee is great and impartial, why bother creating potential controversy? If there's a debatable decision in the game, of which there have been a few this tournament already, the fallout is going to be nuclear and totally unnecessary
His performance in Netherlands - Romania was absolutely atrocious. But sure, let's reward him with a euros semi final, despite his history with Bellingham.
The human element between the two is indeed worth talking about. I think your second scenario, him being more generous to Bellingham, is more likely because he knows how it will look if he makes a bad call agains Bellingham. That could be a problem but ruling him out for Bellingham matches would set a precedent that players could just insult a ref they don’t like, take the fine and never having to face that ref again
The refs at the EUROs have been tragic already without appointing that specific ref to that specific match...it's bad. Really bad. Not because of the allegations but because of the history between Bellingham and that ref. It's just fueling the fire for no reason.
The main reason Zwayer is so despised is not fact that he took money from convicted match fixer, it's the fact he knew of the match fixing for years before reporting it and a historical football club has literally gone into ruin because of it. There is a great documentary about Zwayers involvement in the scandal. I think it's in german if remember correctly but there are english subs
@@elyssa3741 Robert Hoyzer fixed a german pokal game in which the german first league club HSV played the second tier club SC Paderborn and caused HSV to be eliminated from the competion by deliberatly awarding two false penaltys and a red card. The HSV coach was sacked as a result of this loss which started a downward spiral from which the HSV has not recovered to this day. Many bad decisions contributed to the downfall of the HSV for which Hoizer and Zwayer are not to blame, but it all started with one fixed game. I guess it was some kind of butterfly effect.
@@elyssa3741 yeah you are right Bundesliga 2 is still pretty big, but they went from being a contender for the Bundesliga title to averaging 6th place in the second tier. Before being relegated from the 1. Bundesliga the HSV was actually the only remaining founding member of the 1. Bundesliga who was never relegated. That is why they have a dinosaur as their mascot, they kept him despite being relegated tho
Other refere in Spain France match was arrested on a party where they had guns vests prostitutes and coke. In 2020. That's some organized crime in my eyes. On other hand I can imagine Pierluigi Collina in same situation and he is the goat
I mean he was a party attendant, I’m positive Neymar, Mbappe, Ronaldo, and the like have been to as wild if not way wilder parties, doesn’t mean they’re part of, brought, partook in, or knew of any contraband. I’ve been to multiple parties and I’m sure if 50% got raided, wether I knew or not the same things would be found. That beings said yes Pierlugi Collina = GOAT
Undeniable worse than this "Zwayer 300€ unproven recieving payment for match fixing from 20 years ago". Makkelie having an Italian husband and STILL refereeing the match vs Croatia is just a lot worse.
The thing about Zweyer is, that he really doesn’t have the track record of being a great ref, which begs the question why exactly he is in such a high position to be appointed to the Euros and big games in germany in general. Zweyer (allegedly) accepted the 300 euros while being a line man for Hoyzer. The theory in Germany is (which was also backed up by former, very talented referee Manuel Gräfe, who uncovered some corruption in the DFB and won a court case against it) that the DFB needed a ref who would be in their debt and would go along with it’s corruption because they basically gave him his career back after the scandal. Therefore he would go along with their “crimes” and would be appointed ref in very important games in exchange
I'm so glad you have a reasonable opinion on this, all the talk about Zwayer by people who didn't even bother to read his wikipedia page has been driving me nuts over the past few days. It's overblown nonsense. Also, side note: Hoyzer didnt just get suspended for life, he actually went to prison for 2 years too
It's also reasonable to disagree. Professional refs need to avoid even the APPEARANCE of impropriety. Because of this guy's ambiguous past, where we need to make guesses about what happened, it's reasonable to doubt him.
@@ninjalectualx of course, I can totally understand anybody who disagrees. But almost all online are just reading headlines ("Match fixer in charge of Euros semi-final!"), and not considering the nuance of the situation in their disagreements.
@@drew1564you’re talking ab understanding the situation yet you’re not fully understanding of the situation 😂 supposedly he turned a blind eye on the fixing for a while and was cause of why a team went into ruin. Gotta watch that zwayer documentary this mf should be nowhere near a football pitch
As much as you joke about years of research, this video still explained it better in 10 minutes than anything I have seen from "professional" journalists and news sites.
I understand the concern, but wouldn’t it go a bit too far to not let a referee officiate a match if they officiated a match in the past where one of the players criticised them? Because if that doesn’t go too far a player could just blame an official the way Jude did, take the fine and never have to be officiated by that ref again (if they believe for whatever reason that they are not treated right by them)
One thing about Zwayer is that, the consenus amon Bundesliga fans is that he's a decent ref, but consistently delivers his worst reffing performences in big games. This is one of the reasons why Zwayer's involvement in the scandal will never stop being mentioned, to the point where even Jude Bellingham, someone who was 2 years old and lived in a different country when the scandal happened, knows about it.
A couple years back when Jude's hype was starting I remember hearing that he was very much a student of the game.. being that young and knowing of that ref having that history is pretty crazy. I'd actually love to see a football trivia battle between Jude and Zealand!
Zealand has said in other videos on match fixing that those pushing others to do it often use past discretions as a way of trapping them. Maybe the €300 was a gift that was intended to be used as blackmail in the future?
That is not unlikely. Part of why he accepted the 6 months ban was because he was suspended during the time of the investigation anyways and the time was taken into account which meant that he never actually had to stay out for any extra time from the ban. This lead to him just accepting the decision to "ban" him for 6 months as it practically made no difference and fighting the ban would have meant even more trouble for basically no gain at the time.
i remember when he made that post match interview, seemed like he had a preconceived notion that the ref might be dirty, sounds like the club might have put him in this position for pushing that this ref might be a problem come the game in the buil-up
@@drew1564 Nuance is that he was friends with a fixer and it was proven that money switched hands between the two. No punishment without absolute slam dunk evidence isn't the standard for players why should it be for refs?
Felix Zwayer knew about the matchfixing for years. He was just friends with the referee that was suspicious that Hoyzer was getting bribed. He only made it public after he got told that there were suspicions against Hoyzer.
The simple fact, for me, is if a match official is ever found guilty of match fixing/accepting bribes then they should never be allowed to be a match official. He reported it, but he also accepted a bribe. That’s enough. You can’t have trust in him, he is compromised.
The thing is, nobody could actually establish that it was a bribe. It could very well just have been something completely innocent, but deliberately timed by Hoyzer to look suspicious if an investigation ever happened. It is very common for people who do any sort of match fixing to lay traps before actually trying to recruit new officials and this very much looks like this type of trap. The main questionable conduct seems to be the timing. Zwayer waited a few months before actually telling on Hoyzer, but that is a lot more understandable when you consider that he came out with multiple referees at once. Obviously that necessitated some coordination and collection of evidence beforehand. Additionally, the main reason why Zwayer accepted the "ban" at the end of the investigation, is because it didn't actually mean anything at the time and fighting it would have meant more trouble and time away from the pitch. He, just like every official associated with any of the suspected matches, was suspended during the investigation and the final ban took that time into account, so in effect, the ban meant nothing for him, which is why he didn't elect to fight it.
The moment I saw this I was like. No shot they used that referee… I’m a Dortmund fan and I remember this match. Omg it was a disaster. I distinctly remember how bad that no pen call was.
I'm gonna be honest, this assignment is genius from a controversy standpoint. If you're really wanting this hatchet to be buried, let him officiate the game and watch the headlines pile in regardless of what actually happens
Looking back, when I started refereeing youth games (at the turn of the millennium), the home team paid the refs. We always collected an envelope of cash before the game from the coach. Quite the look if you don't know that's normal operating.
I'm not sure when they choose who referees which match but they either did it to create a buzz around the match or it's the media blowing it out of proportion because it happens to be England in the game.
I know its a uncomfortable topic to talk about but UEFA's Refs are strange. That Valencia Euroleague final Munich- Real Madrid in the UCL and now the Germany Spain thing. Accusations are just that but...
hoyzer got pardoned for amateur level so he is allowed to play in 10th league again ^^ and zwayer is the best referee germany has by a long shot. he will be 100% times better then the VAR that did not call hand in germanys quater just because he dont wanna do it again as he already did vs denmark and he not wanna make his fellow nationsmate englishman the REAL scandal and fixing is to have an english VAR behind an ENGLISH referee after the same var already gave a penalty to that team ... thats the scandal. zwayer is fine, best ma
I’m an American sports fan but every 2 years I pay attention to international soccer tournaments. Can’t believe this guy only has 48k, I would’ve thought he had like 300k 🤣
The only thing more controversial than this referee choice is Zealand's comical lack of training while still believing he's going to run a marathon smh.
Much of this is falsely reported by ESPN and others. Thanks for your more nuanced approach. Zwayer was actually the guy who exposed the corruption, despite another guy involved there being a childhood friend of his. And he did not do so when he was already under suspicion or anything, he was the one who started it. His suspension was more of a technicality than actual punishment. He version of events was also confirmed because of some cell phone massages, so he was vindicated. If anything Zwayer prevented more match fixing, since the bad guys he exposed also went to prison. Some news outlets trying to make him out as being a nefarious guy, who was "involved in a bribery scandal" (or however they phrase it), when he actually stood up to corruption, exposed it, that is pretty shameful.
Did he take money from his fixer friend? Yes. Did he immediately report it? No Was the Federation helping him cover up by hiding his suspension? Yes This is simply a well connected man who got away with corruption
@@lolumo He was not well connected. He was in his early 20s and a ref in the 4th tier. He was a total nobody. He was hesitant to report it, since he had no proof, it would have been word against word at that point, plus it must not have been easy ruining the life of a childhood friend. I can totally understand, that he waited a few months, even if that looks bad in hindsight. The important thing is he reported it, not because he was in any danger of being found out, but because of his conviction and because he wanted to do the right thing. The 300€ he got from his friend were for something else he claimed, and it was never proven that the money was for match fixing. In fact an expert panel scrutinized all matches in question and found no irregularities, and later in the investigation much of the things Zwayer said were confirmed by other sources and proof. Also the football federation did not "cover up" his suspension, that is some very misleading framing. He was simply sidelined for the duration of the investigation, until it was found out he was telling the truth and he was reinstated. After he was reinstated there was no reason to make what was a precautionary measure (not using him for matches for a while until he is exonerated) an official suspension, so they didn't. It's not like it was a secret, it just never got the status of an official suspension. If they wanted to cover it up, why would they years later reveal they had internally sidelined him? That's not how a cover up works, revealing information as soon as somebody asks for it.
@@Jonathanizer He was paid a bribe and hid an approach made to him to fix a match. That is more than enough to end his career. I have looked and looked and looked and not found what he did to become an exception to what is a zero tolerance environment otherwise. I assumed connections but even if they aren't it, he is proven to be corrupt and DFB's and UEFA's refereeing will remain in a grey cloud till he isn't kicked out.
@@lolumo You are making unsubstantiated claims, much like these scandalous media reports. The 300€ he got from a long time friend were never proven to be for anything related to football, and his claims it was for something else is completely plausible, considering almost everything else he told authorities was later proven to be right by cell phone messages and other proof. You starting off with a completely unproven claim is already an indicator, that you jumped on the bandwagon of people who think accusation=guilt. He was vindicated and reinstated, but for some people that is not enough. Also he did not hide any approach to fix a match, the opposite, he was the one who reported everything. Nobody knew of this, he was the one who blew the case open and provided proof to send the bad guys to jail.
With every sports league in the world, jumping in headfirst with the gaming industry, who could've predicted something like this would've happened…besides, everyone?
I'm English and I read about Felix, too, and I don't see him as a risk with regards to fixing. If anything, I commend him for not sitting on it and actually coming forward when a bribe was offered. I would worry more about the Jude feud (heh, rhyme), but I think a man who is professional enough to come forward about a bribe will have the professionalism to get through a tie containing Jude without letting his emotions get the better of him.
Well, yeah, the match fixing was a long time ago and he wasn’t the main culprit of it, in fact he even sounded the alarm bells about it (wasn’t it a bit later than he should have though? I remember reading something like that but I may be wrong) but still, I get why people are nervous. The fact that the suspension wasn’t even originally announced is just…weird. On that Bellingham argument, I can see why you don’t necessarily want to take that into account (you can ironically make match fixing easier by allowing teams to eat up a fine and basically pick and choose refs) but I do remember him being right he got shafted in that game, obviously that doesn’t mean match fixing was involved by a long shot. Another point that you haven’t brought up is that he also refereed the Netherlands-Romania game where he stopped one of our counters for no reason (gave a yellow for dissent to our captain on top of it) and never really gave the Dutch cards despite their physical play (though I admit it was limit-of-the-rulebook stuff), interesting that 2 out of 3 knockout Dutch matches are refereed by the same dude. I get that the pool of top officials is limited but still, you could have literally swapped the semifinal refs around and it would have looked less suspicious. Anyway, hopefully all fears are unfounded and we get a well reffed game, I d have said a good game but you know, England are involved. Oh, and one final thing, fuck UEFA for putting Spain vs France at the same time with the first CL qualifying round, why the CL games aren’t played at least earlier in the day if not on another date entirely is beyond me
We need to have the same energy for this than when we have for fake apology videos of youtubers everyone deserve second chances or nobody does. Logan Paul on his 8th chance if I'm not mistaken
The weirder part is he also refereed the Netherlands-Romania game where he stopped one of our counters for no reason (gave a yellow for dissent to our captain on top of it) and never really gave the Dutch cards despite their physical play (though I admit it was limit-of-the-rulebook stuff), interesting that 2 out of 3 knockout Dutch matches are refereed by the same dude
The only thing wild is the false and misleading reporting by ESPN Painting the guy who provably stood up to corruption and exposed the betting mafia as the villain, pretty shameful. everything for clicks i guess
I can't see referees not being replaced by AI within the next decade. You don't need a person on the pitch. Just let an AI communicate the decision on the stadium screens or via PA. Imagine: no errors, clear line, no controversy, precise OT and no discussions with players.
Well well well. Coming here right after the game, clearly this ref was helping England a lot. I can point out at least 10 calls in the game made in favour of England and 10 more 50/50 decisions that he chose to give to England. The situation of corruption in Fifa and UEFA is just sad, I say bring Super League asap, at least it will bring more money, game is already corrupt.
i really think we should just get rid of the referees and just use v.a.r and use it alot better.. most of the time var decisions have gone wrong etc has been because the referee on the pitch overrules.. cough **michael oliver**
Anyone that is thinking he’s match fixing is out do their mind. But the issue of how him and Bellingham will interact is huge and should mean he isn’t eligible to ref this game.
Nah, you can't make that depended of ref-player relations, otherwise a player could just keep taking refs out of his pool by accusing every ref after every game, which would be silly.
It should be mentioned, that Hoyzer was personal friends with Zwayer. The 300€ could have been for something innocent, as Zwayer claimed. Also much of Zwayers version of events was confirmed by cell phone messages. That plus the fact Zwayer was the one who came forward with the whole thing (when nobody suspected anything), makes me think Zwayer is the good guy here, and what ESPN and others are trying to do to him is a shameful smear campaign.
I had no idea you have a channel with hundreds of thousand of subs and was just watching USMNT rants on here. Cool words and good luck running from the authorities and USSF
20 years is so long ago and he admitted to it, if he hasn’t ever done it since, is a good ref and has refereed big matches then I don’t see the problem.
Imo the bad blood between him and Bellingham is probably enough to make it worth getting another referee. Also it still just looks bad and you know it's going to be brought up if anything happens in the game. Just a bunch of drama that could easily have been avoided.
He admitted is an understatement. He blew the whistle on the guys doing the bribing. He never actually fixed a match, and the 300 Euros were from a guy he was personal friends with, and could have been for something else (as he claimed). Most of his testimony in the case was later proven to be right by cell phone text messages. The guys he accused of corruption were found guilty, some actually went to jail. there is a reason why he was still able to make a big career as a professional ref.
@@mrdrprofessoroak497 That could cause problems though, if it isnt shown, that a referee intentionally goes against a player, teams could try to get referees banned from their games by doing simmilar stuff.
Sounds like to me he only exposed the match fixing because he got burned in some way by the main guy. Only to have it blow up in his face when other transactions got leaked
Funny that the English press finally found out that Zwayer took bribes now that England got him. Bundesliga fans have always known about this and bring it up whenever their team gets him. It’s really karma for Taylor. The Jude Bellingham part is a nonstory
You're a fugitive Zed. Of course you aren't invited. Just stop running and let the friendly barber take care of you. I promise you'll feel better afterwards 💋💋💋
If the Netherlands vs Turkey is anything to go by he's an alright ref anything besides that point is pointless bias that was a pen very unlucky but still a pen he didn't mean it but he did do it
Villa fans know Zywer. His refereeing of the the Europa Conference League against an Olympiacos team with a history of paying or threatening referees was very suspicious.
How can you suggest that this isn't a big deal? This guy should have been banned for life. Anyone involved in match fixing should be permanently banned. On top of that, personal beef with an England player. This ref should not be anywhere near this match.
He knew the guy who gave him 300€ and maintained it was for something else. They were childhood friends. Also much of Zwayers story was later proven to be right in court, since he had cell phone messages. Also Zwayer was the one coming forward and exposing the whole thing, why would he do that if he were also involved in corruption. Also the matches he was involved in were reviewed and an expert panel ruled it good officiating and no indication, that he fixed any matches. The more details you learn about this, he more it looks like Zwayer was the good guy, who stood up to corruption and exposed the guys doing the bribery
Nick Leeson was 28 years old when he had accrued losses of over £200 million and ruined Barings Bank. I'm shit tired of hearing that you can't question the integrity of refs when there's reams of evidence to show that refs often get bought off. Any Leeds fans want to comment? How many World Cups should we reference?
